I have a confession; I'm terrible at Christmas shopping. Probably because I am bad about planning ahead of time and end up feeling very stressed and indecisive. Not to mention irritated by long lines and packed stores. Am I the only one who feels this way? I don’t mean to be a grinch- I do want to give people nice things that they’ll enjoy. So I tend to go the DIY route. I like trying out new things each year, but there are also some stand-bys, like these Sugar & Spice Walnuts that have become part of my Christmas tradition. My boyfriend’s family goes nuts for these walnuts, so I make them a big batch every year.

And what’s christmas without cookies? I always make some sort of cookie- this year it’s shortbread. Rosemary works so well in shortbread, it gives it such a depth of flavor. And it's amazingly good slathered in this meyer lemon curd. This is the first time I have made curd and honestly it was much easier than I thought it would be. The results were fantastic, it’s easily as good as any fancy brand, but without the fat price tag, sure to impress your friends and family. If you wanted, you could swap the meyer lemons for plain lemons, oranges, limes, any type of citrus you like. And no matter what you do, save a jar for yourself to spread on baked goods, stir into yogurt or ice cream.

Preheat oven to 350 F.In a small bowl, add the sugar, spices, and salt and stir to combine, set aside.In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg white until frothy with the whisk attachment.Put the walnuts in the mixing bowl and using a spatula, toss them to coat with the egg white. Then add the sugar mixture and toss to coat again. Spread the coated walnuts on a parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir, return to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the nuts are toasted. Turn off the oven, remove the walnuts and stir again. If the mix still feels sticky you may want to place in the cooling oven again for another 10-20 minutes to dry out. Once dry, remove from baking sheets and store in glass jars. Then just stick a ribbon and a gift tag of the jar and voila- one gift done!

Preheat oven to 375 F. In the bowl of a mixer, stir together the flour, sugar, zest, rosemary, and salt.Add the butter into the flour mixture, beating until it comes together, but is still somewhat coarse. You may need to add some ice water at this point, but do so sparingly. You just want it to come together enough to be able to roll out.On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and cut into whatever shapes you like. Use cookie cutters, or cut into shapes- be creative!Once you’ve cut them out, place the cookies on an ungreased baking pan and refrigerate again for about 10 minutes. Then bake for approximately 12-15 minutes until the bottoms brown and they smell done.

remove the zest the meyer lemons and set it aside. Then juice the lemons until you have a 1/2 cup.Put 2 inches of water into a medium saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium-high heat.Find a stainless steel or other heat-proof bowl that’s small enough to sit inside your saucepan. In it, whisk together the juice, zest, egg yolks, and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl in the saucepan. Stir the mixture with a silicone spatula and keep stirring until the curd thickens, you’ll see it start to hang to the sides of the pan between stirs. Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature, it should set around 175 F. You don’t want it to get too hot or the egg will scramble. When the curd is thick enough, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter. Put a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and push the curd through. Pour the finished curd into a jar and let it cool to room temperature. Seal the jar with a lid and keep in the fridge. I’ll keep for up to 2 weeks refrigerated.